The NBA has been looking for the next Michael Jordan since the last of Jordan's championships in 1998. It is clear, though, that the time has come to call off the search.

LeBron James is no Michael Jordan. James has been the first to affirm it. No amount of championships, points, or assists will ever place LeBron on the same pedestal as Michael. Remembering Jordan as anything less than the greatest ever is both foolish and outlandish.

Not only did Michael Jordan play a game of basketball so beautiful that it defied physics, but he racked up numbers and accolades that put him in a league of his own.

Six NBA titles. A 72-win season. Five MVP awards. Ten-time member of the All-NBA First Team. Nine-time member of the All-Defensive First Team. Fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances. Ten scoring titles.

He used every ounce of his competitive fire to beat down his opponents. He carried the full responsibility of achieving victory, and he would have it no other way.

Pure talent combined with unprecedented determination is what made MJ into a legend, and it earned him six rings in a career abbreviated by retirement.

Nobody is going to be the next Michael Jordan. Nobody. Ever.

The comparison is moot.

Most basketball fans would agree but nevertheless continually compare successors including Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Allen Iverson, and Tracy McGrady to His Airness.

Indeed Jordan for many years now has been the universal measuring device in appraising greatness among basketball players.

While such statements create some level of hype surrounding these players, the shadow of Jordan’s legacy has obscured their true greatness and hindered fan’s appreciation of them.

“Michael’s greatness has warped the way we evaluate and interpret the careers of today’s superstars,” Scott Leedy of the Hardwood Paroxysm asserts. “No one is allowed to succeed on their own terms: they must succeed on his.”

Leedy continues by delving deeper into this topic, claiming that the shadow of Jordan has destroyed LeBron’s reputation since he cannot live up to Jordan’s legacy.

“A lot of the criticism [of LeBron] centers on [sic] the same tired, unoriginal and uninspired refrain: “Michael Jordan NEVER would have (fill in the blank here).”

There is no doubt we have all heard these statements before.

“Jordan never would have teamed up with two other superstars.”

“Jordan never would have quit on his team in the Finals.”

“Jordan never would have choked in a big game like that one.”

In reality, though, LeBron is receiving criticism when he should be hearing praise.

Does anyone remember Jordan failing to score a single basket in the final 7½ minutes of the Bulls’ victory over Indiana in Game 7 of the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals? Or Jordan passing to Steve Kerr for the game-winner in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against Utah in 1997?

Of course not. Jordan’s legacy has already been immortalized and his game encrusted with gold—and deservedly so. But his flaws and mistakes have been forgotten.

And it is impossible for any player to match someone who has been deemed perfect, even if he was the closest one to a perfect basketball player.

Thus, it is time for LeBron to be LeBron and for Kobe to be Kobe. They cannot be Michael Jordan. They should be evaluated solely on their own merits, not on legacy of His Airness.